Jan Davidsz. de Heem (Utrecht, 1606 – Antwerp, 1684) was an exceptional artist in his time, working in the Netherlands, a divided region since the Fall of Antwerp in 1585. As a painter he worked across national boundaries to elevate the beauty of still life painting to its zenith, insisting on high quality, continually pursuing renewal and maintaining the vitality of the genre.

Opulence Distilled (Verbeelde Weelde) brings together some of the best works by the artist from international museums such as the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Mauritshuis in the Hague, as well as from many private collections.

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Fred G. Meijer, a renowned expert on seventeenth-century still-life painting in the northern and southern Netherlands. In 2016 he was awarded a Ph.D for his research concerning Jan Davidsz. de Heem, which is the basis for the publication that is published in conjunction with the exhibition.